President Bashar al-Assad of Syria visits Vladimir Putin in Moscow on first foreign visit in four years

Moscow: President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday evening made his first foreign visit since Syria’s war broke out in 2011, and held talks with his main backer and counterpart Vladimir Putin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said Wednesday. “Yesterday evening, the president of the Syrian Arab Republic, Bashar al-Assad, made a working visit to Moscow,” Peskov said, adding that he met with Putin. The Syrian presidency confirmed that Assad is back in Damascus on Wednesday. [caption id=“attachment_2477198” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad (L) during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on October 21, 2015. AFP[/caption] Assad told Putin that Russia’s campaign in Syria has helped contain “terrorism”. “Terrorism, which has now spread through the region, would have taken much larger areas and would have spread throughout much larger territory if it were not for your actions and your decisions,” Assad said in comments translated into Russian. The two stressed that military operations in Syria must be followed by political steps to try to end the conflict, during a surprise visit to Moscow by Assad. “We are ready to make our contribution not only during armed hostilities in the fight against terrorism but also during a political process,” Putin told Assad on Tuesday. Assad for his part also stressed the importance of “further political steps,” according to a Kremlin statement AFP